Dealership DMS Outage Plan to Keep Selling When Systems Fail
A dealership DMS outage plan is the kind of document nobody wants to write until the morning the screens go dark. Stores with a plan keep selling and servicing vehicles. Stores without one send customers home. Build yours before you need it.
Assume it will happen
Outages come from many directions: a provider problem, a cyber incident, a failed internet line or a power cut. The cause matters less than the effect, which is the same every time. Your team cannot look up customers, work deals, write repair orders or print paperwork the usual way. A plan answers one question for every department: what do we do by hand, and where are the supplies?
Build the outage kit
Put a physical kit in a known, locked location in each department. Check it twice a year.
- Blank paper versions of your deal worksheet, credit application, buyer’s order and repair order.
- Printed forms required for delivery in your state. Confirm the current list with counsel.
- A printed staff contact list with personal mobile numbers.
- A printed list of lender, vendor and provider support contacts.
- Paper inventory lists, refreshed weekly, with stock numbers, prices and key locations.
- Pens, calculators, receipt books and a manual way to record payments.
Assign roles before the outage
Confusion is the real cost of an outage. Name one person for each of these jobs and one backup.
- Incident lead: usually the GM. Decides when to switch to manual and when to switch back.
- Provider contact: the single person who talks to the DMS and IT providers and relays updates.
- Department captains: one each for sales, finance, service, parts and the office, responsible for running the paper process.
- Customer communication lead: handles updates to customers with appointments and posts hours or delays where needed.
- Records keeper: collects every paper document at the end of each day for re-entry later.
Department playbooks in brief
Sales: work deals on paper worksheets using the printed inventory list. Log every customer by hand with name, phone, vehicle and salesperson.
Finance: contact lenders directly by their portals or by phone where possible. Know in advance which deals you can deliver on paper and which must wait. Review this with counsel so the rules are set before the pressure is on.
Service: write repair orders by hand, prioritize customers already in the building and be honest about delays. Keep a paper parts request sheet.
Parts: use printed bin locations for fast-moving parts and record every sale manually.
Office: hold deposits securely with handwritten receipts and keep a running cash log.
Keep your leads and appointments flowing
An outage inside the building does not stop customers from messaging you. Make sure at least one lead channel does not depend on the DMS. Social messaging and text conversations usually keep working, and a printed or cloud-based appointment calendar keeps the day organized.
This is one advantage of having an outside BDC during events. Willowood’s BDC is live, US-based, bilingual and available 24/7/365 by Messenger, text and email, so conversations and set appointments continue even if your in-store systems are down. Whatever your setup, export tomorrow’s appointment list every evening as a habit.
If the cause may be a security incident
Treat any unexplained outage as a possible security event until told otherwise. Do not try to fix it yourself. Disconnect affected machines if your IT provider instructs you to, contact your provider and insurer, and involve counsel early. Dealers have legal duties around customer information, so get professional guidance instead of guessing.
Recovering when systems return
- Re-enter paper records in date order, and have a second person check each entry.
- Reconcile cash, deposits and inventory against the paper logs.
- Follow up with every customer whose visit was affected.
- Hold a short review and update the plan with what you learned.
Practice once
Pick a slow hour and run a drill. Have each department complete one transaction on paper. You will find missing forms and unclear steps in minutes, which is far better than finding them during a real outage.
Frequently asked questions
Can we legally deliver vehicles during an outage?
It depends on your state and the specific deal. Decide the rules ahead of time with counsel and write them into the plan.
How often should the plan be updated?
Twice a year, and any time you change a major system or provider.
Who should have a copy?
Every manager, in print. A plan stored only on the network is unavailable at the exact moment you need it.
See what an event would look like for your store
Willowood Ventures runs Facebook Sales Events for 600+ dealer partners and manages $4 million per month in social advertising. Dealers see approximately 800% average ROI, and 90% of them rebook. Book a demo and we will walk through your market, your inventory and your set appointment target.
